Project description:In developing B lymphocytes, V(D)J recombination assembles IgH and Igk variable region exons from hundreds of gene segments clustered across mega-base Igh and Igk loci. V, D, and J segments are flanked by conserved recombination signal sequences (RSSs) that target RAG endonuclease. RAG orchestrates Igh V(D)J recombination upon capturing a JH-RSS within the JH-RSS-based recombination center (RC). JH-RSS orientation programs RAG to scan upstream D- and VH-containing chromatin linearly presented by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion. During Igh scanning, RAG robustly utilizes only D- or VH-RSSs in convergent ("deletional") orientation with JH-RSSs. However, for Vk-to-Jk joining, RAG utilizes Vk-RSSs from deletional- and inversional-oriented clusters, inconsistent with linear scanning. Here, we elucidate the Vk-to-Jk joining mechanism. Igk undergoes robust primary and secondary rearrangements, which confounds scanning assays. Thus, we engineered cells to undergo only primary Vk-to-Jk rearrangements and found that RAG-scanning from the primary Jk-RC terminates just 8kb upstream within the CTCF-Site-based Sis element. While Sis and the Jk-RC barely interacted with the Vk locus, the CTCF-site-based Cer element, 4kb upstream of Sis, interacted with various loop-extrusion impediments across the locus. Like VH-locus inversion, DJH inversion abrogated VH-to-DJH joining; yet Vk-locus or Jk inversion allowed robust Vk-to-Jk joining. Together, these experiments implicated loop extrusion in bringing Vks near Cer for short-range diffusion-mediated capture by RC-based RAG. To elucidate key mechanistic elements for diffusional V(D)J recombination in Igk versus Igh, we assayed Vk-to-JH and D-to-Jk rearrangements in hybrid Igh-Igk loci generated by targeted chromosomal translocations, and pinpointed remarkably strong Vk and Jk RSSs. Indeed, RSS replacements in hybrid or normal Igk and Igh loci confirmed ability of Igk versus Igh RSSs to promote robust diffusional joining. We propose that Igk evolved strong RSSs to mediate diffusional Vk-to-Jk joining; while Igh evolved weaker RSSs requisite for modulating VH joining by RAG scanning impediments.

Project description:A diverse antibody repertoire is formed through the rearrangement of V, D, and J segments at the immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) loci. The C57BL/6 murine Igh locus has over 100 functional VH gene segments that can recombine to a rearranged DJH. While the non-random usage of VH genes is well documented, it is not clear what elements determine recombination frequency. To answer this question we conducted deep sequencing of 5M-bM-^@M-^Y-RACE products of the Igh repertoire in pro-B cells, amplified in an unbiased manner. ChIP-seq results for several histone modifications and RNA polymerase II binding, RNA-seq for sense and antisense non-coding germline transcripts, and proximity to CTCF and Rad21 sites were compared to the usage of individual V genes. Computational analyses assessed the relative importance of these various accessibility elements. These elements divide the Igh locus into four epigenetically and transcriptionally distinct domains, and our computational analyses reveal different regulatory mechanisms for each region. Proximal V genes are relatively devoid of active histone marks and non-coding RNA in general, but having a CTCF site near their RSS is critical, suggesting that position near the base of the chromatin loops is important for rearrangement. In contrast, distal V genes have high levels of histone marks and non-coding RNA, which may compensate for their poorer RSS and for being distant from CTCF sites. Thus, the Igh locus has evolved a complex system for the regulation of V(D)J rearrangement that is different for of each the four domains that comprise this locus. RNA was extracted from C57BL/6 RAG-/- pro-B cells using TrizolM-BM-. (Life Technologies Corp., Carlsbad CA) and genomic DNA was eliminated using the genomic DNA wipeout buffer in the QuantiTect Reverse transcription kit (QIAGEN). A final purification of the RNA was performed with the RNeasy kit from QIAGEN. For each sample, 100 ng of total RNA was used to make RNASeq libraries using the NuGEN Encore Complete DR kits following manufacturer's recommended protocols. Sequencing libraries were gel purified to ensure insert sizes were larger than 100 bp in length and sequenced on an Ilumina HiSeq2000 for 100 bases plus 7 bases for indexing.

Dataset Information

Local Chromatin Features Including PU.1 and IKAROS Binding and H3K4 Methylation Shape the Repertoire of Immunoglobulin Kappa Genes Chosen for V(D)J Recombination

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